Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act explained

Shorttitle:	Evidence Act
Longtitle:	Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018
Nickname:	Evidence Act
Enacted By:	115th
Effective Date:	01/14/2019
Introducedin:	House
Introducedby:	Paul Ryan (R–WI)
Introduceddate:	10/31/2017
Signedpresident:	Donald Trump
Signeddate:	01/14/2019

The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (Evidence Act) is a United States law that establishes processes for the federal government to modernize its data management practices, evidence-building functions, and statistical efficiency to inform policy decisions. The Evidence Act contains four parts ("titles"), which address evidence capacity, open data (OPEN Government Data Act),^[1] and data confidentiality (the reauthorization of the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act).^[2]

Legislative history

The bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by former House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin on October 31, 2017. Senator Patty Murray filed counterpart legislation in the U.S. Senate. Rep. Ryan and Sen. Murray acknowledged that the basis of the legislation was a set of recommendations issued by the U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking. The Evidence Act addresses half of the recommendations from that commission.

In November 2017, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform advanced the bill, which was approved unanimously by the full House. The Senate advanced a modified version of the bill in December 2018, which returned to the House for a final vote. The U.S. president signed the bill into law on January 14, 2019.

Implementation

Federal agencies have undertaken extensive activities to support implementation of the Evidence Act, beginning in 2019. Many activities are documented in a report from the Data Foundation describing the status of the Evidence Commission's recommendations after 5-years.^[3] The federal government also published new resources that describe implementation progress that reflect respective titles of the law. For example:

• Title 1 relates to evidence-building functions and evaluation with additional information available at evaluation.gov
• Title 2 relates to data management and chief data officers with additional information available at cdo.gov and through the Federal Data Strategy
• Title 3 relates to statistical policy with additional information available at statspolicy.gov

See also

• Open data in the United States
• U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, est. March 2016

External links

• Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (PDF/details) as amended in the GPO Statute Compilations collection
• H.R.4174 - Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 bill information on Congress.gov
• Overview of the Evidence Act from the Data Foundation's Data Coalition
• GSA Technology Transformation Services. Draft 2019-2020 Federal Data Strategy Action Plan
• Data Coalition. OPEN Government Data Act (assorted info from advocacy group supporting machine-readable data)
• Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President, OMB Mem. No. M-19-23, Phase 1 Implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018: Learning Agendas, Personnel, and Planning Guidance (2019), https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/M-19-23.pdf
• Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the President, OMB Mem. No M-13-13, Open Data Policy---Managing Information as an Asset (2013), https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2013/m-13-13.pdf

Notes and References

1. 132 Stat. 5534
2. Web site: Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018. Data Coalition. September 24, 2019.
3. Web site: Evidence Commission After 5 Years: A Progress Report on the Promise for a More Evidence-Informed Society . 2023-09-14 . Data Foundation . en-US.